COVID-19: High Court slams Karnataka govt for permitting Congress' Mekedatu padayatra

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 12 (ANI): Karnataka High Court on Wednesday reprimanded the State government for not taking action in the matter of violation of COVID norms during Congress' Mekedatu padayatra.
Hearing a PIL, the Court asked why the State government allowed the padayatra amid the rising cases of COVID.
"Why are you incapable to take action against the protestors? Were COVID-19 guidelines followed during the padayatra?" the court asked.
The court also sent a show-cause notice to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in the matter. The next hearing has been scheduled to take place on January 14.
Congress leader and former Karnataka Minister MB Patil said that Mekedatu padayatra was planned much before the surge in COVID cases. He said it is the fundamental right of a party to hold such programmes.
"The padayatra was planned before the cases started to rise. This variant is not as dangerous as the last one. This is a milder one, just like flu. There is no requirement of ICU or oxygen. Padyatra is a fundamental right," MB Patil told ANI.
Karnataka leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that the Congress would take out the Mekedatu padyatra on Thursday.
Siddaramaiah told ANI that the observations made by the court today were for the state government, not for the Congress party undertaking the padayatra.
The Congress in Karnataka on Sunday began its 11-day padayatra, despite the government's COVID-19 restrictions, demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project across the Cauvery river.
Shivakumar and 63 other Congressmen were booked in Ramanagara for violating COVID-19 norms during the party's Mekedatu padayatra.
With an aim to curb the spread of COVID-19 cases in the state, the Karnataka government has imposed a curfew on weekends and restricted public gatherings to fight the third wave of COVID-19, till January 19. It has also imposed a night curfew and has prohibited all rallies, dharnas, protests, among others.
The Mekedatu balancing reservoir-cum drinking water project, to be constructed across the Cauvery river basin, has been at the centre of controversy between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Earlier too on July 12, 2021, Bommai had said that the Centre will have to give clearance to the project as per law and there is no reason the state government will stop the project. (ANI)